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Karen Commins

Award Winning

Atlanta Audiobook Share-rator™

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Away From the Mic

Plan Your Work and Work Your Plan

6 January 2020

I’ve always been a planner. I’ve even planned vacations more than a year out so that the trip would coincide with a certain date, like when I decided we’d be on cruise ship sailing through the Panama Canal on my birthday. A friend asked me about my plans for this year and expressed curiosity about my planning process, which inspired me to write this article.

 

Background

First, it may help to know that I love the book Write It Down, Make It Happen: Knowing What You Want and Getting It. The author relates numerous stories about various, interesting ways people wrote about an idea as the first step toward making their dream a reality. The act of writing changes the idea from a mere thought in your brain to an attainable goal in the real world. Many of my grand plans start out as glimmering thoughts in my journal.

I have stopped setting big yearly goals like number of books to narrate or amount of money to be earned in a year. Some of those things are beyond my control, especially in devastating years like 2017-2018. Whenever I didn’t meet my big goals, I’ve felt disappointed and critical of myself rather than celebrating all the things that I did accomplish.

In the last 3 years, I’ve adopted the idea of having a focus word guide me through the year. A 2018 article stated to choose something you want more of. “What is your life missing now? Choose that.”

Optimism was my key word for 2018. Content was doubly important as my word for 2019 as I wanted more of both the adjective for an emotional state and the noun for creative output. My word for 2020 remains my secret as I think telling it may diminish its power.

My key word helps me establish intermediate targets like contacting X publishers each month that I hope will lead to the big achievements. I also select some milestones that are completely within my control. For example, this year I will create at least 2 more video courses for NarratorsRoadmap.com. I already know the topics and am gathering the material I want to include in the courses.

 

Go-to Apps

Evernote and my calendars are the foundations for everything I do, both personally and professionally. When I wrote above that I’m gathering material to include in my courses, it means that I’m copying web pages, making notes, and adding media to an Evernote notebook named for the course subject.

As soon as I know I’m going to an activity or am taking a trip, I add the function on my calendar with 1 or more reminders before the day. I’ll be able to look forward to events and schedule my other activities around them. Though we’re not even a week into the new year, I’ve already scheduled trips to NY in March and May for multiple audiobook events, participation at VOAtlanta Audiobook Academy in March, and attendance at the play “Hamilton” when it tours here in Atlanta in April. When planning travel, I copy all of my confirmation emails to Evernote and fill out my Evernote trip itinerary template with all the pertinent details and links to those emails.

I use Evernote as my client relationship manager and set reminders on notes for follow-up actions.  The Cronofy Evernote Calendar Connector automatically transfers the reminders to my calendar and keeps Evernote and my calendar in synch. I have a color-coded calendar to distinguish various activities.

 

 

For instance, I add dates with tie-ins to specific audiobooks to my Promotions calendar. I may set the first reminder a week ahead for a new book where I want to create a graphic. I’d set the second reminder for the day before the date to be sure I schedule the promotion. Sometimes after seeing a reminder about an audiobook in my backlist, I’ll create a new graphic to promote it, such as in this recent tweet.

I start each month by filling in this Evernote template that I created to itemize the major things I want to get done that month. I confess that I’m notorious for trying to stuff 10 pounds of activities into a 2-pound bag! I may not do half the things I set out to do, but action begets action begets action, which all becomes and sustains forward movement. I add dates from the calendar for my standing commitments like my biweekly show for the Georgia Radio Reading Service and the Tuesday tips I write and distribute each week on Twitter.

On a daily basis, I look at the monthly note and my list of Evernote reminders and then fill in this Evernote template of 1 to 5 things I expect to do that day. I list personal appointments like the dentist and hair salon among those 5 tasks.

In the blank space at the top of the note, I record the audio of my daily sightreading practice and enter info about exercise I undertook that day like swimming and walking the dog. Throughout the day, I check the boxes when completing tasks and add any links or documents created in the process.

I have almost 2700 Daily Notes in Evernote stretching back to October 2012. Before I started keeping them in Evernote, I used paper calendars. My paper archives go back to 2003!

I love having all of my planning info in Evernote because it’s searchable, and I can add audio, pictures, videos, emoticons, and links to each page. If I don’t finish something in a day, which is OFTEN the case due to the rabbit holes I jump in, I can copy and paste it to the next day (or even the next week).

 

I hope that sharing part of my process gives you some useful ideas for your own planning sessions! I’d love to see your questions and comments below.

Filed Under: Away From the Mic, Narrators Tagged With: Cronify, Evernote, Write It Down Make It Happen

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

16 September 2019

When a kid returns to school in the fall during a movie or TV show, they invariably must write and recite a report discussing how they spent their summer vacation. I never recall having that assignment at the start of any school year.

If I had, my report probably would have included the number of books I checked out from the library and the songs I learned to play on piano, and, from 5th grade on, the music I played on clarinet, oboe, and flute. I also would have talked about my daily trips to the pool.

My almost daily pool time would certainly remain present in such a chronicle today; some things never change. However, today’s account also would be bubbling with discussion about my new web site NarratorsRoadmap.com, which is fully launching today 9/16 at 9:00am!


Looking back, I can connect the dots and see this site has been in my destiny for quite a while and is a natural evolution and expansion of things I’ve been doing.

[Read more…] about How I Spent My Summer Vacation

Filed Under: Audiobooks, Away From the Mic, Narrators Tagged With: NarratorsRoadmap.com, Voice Actor Websites

20 Things Learned in Last 20 Years

1 September 2019

 

Happy 20th anniversary to me!

I launched my voiceover business 20 years ago.

Since my last post was about using my journal, it’s only appropriate that this one goes back to where it all began, my first entry in my first book.

 

Saturday 8/28/1999 9:25pm

I’m spending my evening copying the CD of my first voice-over demo with the plan to mail a few to agents on Monday. How I got to this point and where I go from here will be the subject of this journal.

Friday 9/3/99 10:15pm

On Wednesday, September 1, 1999, I mailed 3 CDs to [3 Atlanta VO agents]. It was such a huge step, and I felt a tremendous sense of accomplishment and excitement to have pushed the dream out to people who could do something about it!

The past 20 years have been a remarkable evolutionary journey, to say the least! As I was reflecting on all that I’ve seen, read, written, voiced, and otherwise done in that time, I decided a blog post of 20 things I’ve learned would be a great way to celebrate this milestone!

So here’s the list, in no particular order. By the way, you’ll find more private journal entries sprinkled throughout these articles!

[Read more…] about 20 Things Learned in Last 20 Years

Filed Under: Away From the Mic, Business, Links, Narrators, Observations, This Date in My History, Voice-Over Tagged With: journal

How I Use My Journal

27 August 2019

Updated 8/28/19

 

Earlier this week, I re-tweeted a great comment from casting director Dana Bowling:

Since several people asked me about my journaling process, I thought this post with a few ideas might help you start or further your own.

[Read more…] about How I Use My Journal

Filed Under: Away From the Mic, Narrators, Observations, Success Leaves Tracks Tagged With: Bullet Journal, Dana Bowling, Jim Rohn, journal

Inspiration On the Path Toward Achievement

28 May 2019

Since I haven’t posted an article in over 6 months (gasp!), you might think my blog went into hibernation and never came out. However, I’m busy creating content that remains unseen to my audience.

First, I have several articles in progress for this blog to aid narrators with research.

I’m also writing a series of articles for my author blog. I’m basing them on the presentation I gave to the Atlanta Sisters in Crime chapter about the stages of audiobook production. I provided members with this rack card to plan their trip to Audiobook World. I recorded and transcribed my talk to re-purpose the info into a format I could share on my site. The articles relate to the stops on the map. I wanted to write all of these articles before I posted them so I could schedule them to publish on consecutive weeks.

Beyond developing stories for my blogs, I’m excited to tell you I recently launched a new site NarratorsRoadmap.com. This site will expand my work to help narrators of all levels. I’m gratified by the enormous positive reaction of the narrator community to this endeavor!

 

 

Currently, NarratorsRoadmap.com contains loads of terrific information and resources from a number of pros about getting started as an audiobook narrator. I’m working with Voice Actor Websites, a wonderfully creative and highly responsive team, on the design and implementation of the full site. Meanwhile, I’m creating the content. I hope you’ll sign up for updates! The first one will go out soon to give everyone the preview of coming attractions. (This tweet is a hint!)

Starting today, Tuesday 28 May at 10:00am and concurrent with this article, I will post quick tips on my Twitter account. I’ll write my #TuesdayTips on a postcard, naturally, and they’ll cover a range of subjects, from online safety to software usage to marketing tactics.

Even though I am a full-time empress of information, I continue to narrate books! If I don’t have an assignment from a publisher, I create my own projects. I’m prepping a comprehensive biography about Mary Todd Lincoln.

I wanted to share these activities with you to illustrate that just because we don’t see things happening, or our desires aren’t manifesting on our timetable, we shouldn’t give in to discouragement. Hidden forces are moving conditions around in our favor!

Here here are 4 quotes that sustain and inspire me while I’m on the path toward unlocking the next achievement. I hope you find them helpful, too.

    1. Johann Goethe is usually credited with these lines, but the Quote Investigator site notes they should be attributed to Irish poet John Antser:

      What you can do, or dream you can, begin it,
      Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.

    2. I recently read the transcript of Tim Harford’s TED Talk titled “A Powerful way to unleash your creativity.”  The path to the success you seek can be a meandering line among many projects.

      I would like to urge you to embrace the art of slow-motion multitasking. Not because you’re in a hurry, but because you’re in no hurry at all…If you have another exciting, challenging project to work on, being stuck on one is just an opportunity to do something else.

    3. Joanna Gaines, TV star of home improvement shows, wrote in her and her husband Chip’s book The Magnolia Story that you must thrive BEFORE you can get to the next career rung which garners more attention and increased influence.

      Most people think that you start off not thriving. Then you get a TV show or some other amazing opportunity, you get fame, you get fortune, and then you thrive. That’s certainly what I thought earlier in my own life. But what’s interesting to me is that Chip and I got to a place where we were thriving — as a couple, as a family, as business partners — before any of this new success unfolded.

    4. When I catch myself making those unproductive and soul-stealing comparisons, I start thinking about this quote from Joel Osteen:

      I read where an elephant is pregnant for two years. Because the animal is so big, it takes more time for that baby elephant to grow and develop…People around you may be giving birth. They’re seeing their dreams come to pass. Be happy for them. But the reason it’s taking longer for you is because, like that elephant, what you’re carrying is not ordinary. It’s not average. What you’re going to give birth to is going to be bigger, more rewarding, more fulfilling than you’ve ever dreamed. Don’t get discouraged by the process.

Do you have a favorite quote to help you stay inspired and motivated? I’d love for you to share it in the comments!

Filed Under: Away From the Mic, Narrators Tagged With: Joanna Gaines, Joel Osteen, Johann Goethe, John Antser, NarratorsRoadmap.com, QuoteInvestigator.com, Sisters In Crime, Tim Harford, Twitter, Voice Actor Websites

Analyzing the Audiobook Narrator Self-Assessment Quiz Part 4

12 December 2018

It’s finally here! Settle in for the 4th and final article about analyzing the questions on my Audiobook Narrator Self-Assessment Quiz. If you’ve missed the previous posts in this series, check out Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

woman with magnifying glass and Narrator Self Assessment Quiz folder

 

This time, we’ll talk about the Financial Considerations section of the Quiz. I was taught to never discuss money in a job interview until you know you are a good fit for the position. I saved this section until the end for the same reason.

[Read more…] about Analyzing the Audiobook Narrator Self-Assessment Quiz Part 4

Filed Under: Audiobooks, Away From the Mic, Narrators Tagged With: American Library Association, Audio Publishers Association

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